Prologue to Cosmo is Alive
by CptTails
Summary: Building on the work of user ShadowthehedgehogandMaria, This story chronicles the events between the end of Sonic X season 3, and the beginning of the already published work Cosmo is Alive A Tailsmo and other couples story. In this story, we shall see the reason why Cosmo had to come return from the heavenly realms for Tails' own well being (as well as her own).
1. Chapter 1: The Memorial

Cosmo's Return prologue

Sonic, Tails, Amy, Chris, Knuckles, and Cream all sat in the Grand Hall. The lights were dim and there were many pictures up at the front surrounded by candles. The formality of the attire and the somber quietness of the hall gave the impression of a funeral, which would not be far off since this was a private memorial service for all the captains to pay respects to the soldiers and sailors that they lost under their command.

Tails had been dreading this moment since he had gotten the invitations, his friends had encouraged him to prepare something about Cosmo, but every time he tried, all the memories came flooding back and he found it impossible to even start in the midst of the grief. All that he managed to write was:

*Express how lucky the Blue Typhoon was,

*Thank the Admiralty for the Invitation.

*Try not to lose it.

Now, as Captian Sheridan of the S.S. Discovery finished up paying his respects to the marines lost on his ship, Tails knew that he would be called up next. He looked down at the 8 by 11 sheet with the three sentences, thought for a second, and added "I miss her greatly."

Fleet Admiral Greers came back on stage. "Thank you Captian Sheridan, Would Captian Miles Prower of the S.S. Blue Typhoon please come to the stage."

Tails stood up, and slowly walked past his friends. Chris gave him a bump on the arm, Tails acknowledged. Sonic said "You can do it."

Tails gave no response to this.

He slowly walked up the isle towards the podium, paper in hand, trying to keep it together.

All the way up, He could not get the image of the tree on the volatile orb out of his mind, and how he had meant to say 'I Love you', but instead shouted 'I'll miss you'. A regret that haunted him all the way back to Mobius.

As he approached the Podium, He tried to dispel his regret momentarily so that he could get through this. He could not, So he put his paper on the podium, looked up at the crowd and said. "First of all, I would like to thank the Admiralty, and Admiral Greers in Particular for inviting my small crew to this event. Of all the ships that served in the Defense Force, None was more Integral or Fortunate than the Blue Typhoon. My crew and I went through Hell and back together and have become all the closer for it."

"During the war, we only lost one hand."

"Lt. Cosmo." "One of the bravest and most compassionate people I have ever met, and without whom we would not be sitting here."

"From the moment we met her when she crashed in an escape pod outside the green hills, to when we lost her at what is now known as the battle of the singularity."

"… Her courage, fortitude, compassion, and strength of will shall never be forgotten."

Tails' voice cracked as he said this and he walked off stage.

He did not return to his seat, but instead headed for a side exit. As he exited, he heard Admiral Greers come back on stage to call up the next Captian, but none of it mattered to him.

He hurried out the side door, down the hall, and into the closest men's room. He then took off his formal jacket, put it on a hook by the door, turned on the water, and began to cry into a sink.

He did not care who else might be in the bathroom. For all he cared, the President and Joint Chiefs could walk out of the stalls, wash their hands, and leave all while talking about the civilian Captian draining his eyes into the sink by the wall, and it wouldn't have affected him.

As he tried to regain he sensed, images and memories kept flooding back. The Battle Bridge. The white aura around a dark orb. Both Robotnik and Cosmo telling him to pull the trigger. The regret of not even being able to tell Cosmo the truth even in the end. The forced Professionalism for a month on the way home. Truly, He had not broken down like this since the battle of the Singularity.

Everyone tried to comfort him on the way home, Even Eggman. But all it served to do was remind him of her soft voice, and comforting words. None of it ever helped.

Back in the auditorium, Sonic and friends began to wonder where exactly Tails had gone, though they did not say anything out of respect for Captian Caicilius Rex of the S.S. Melbourne, who was speaking at the time. (20 hands lost at the battle of Praxis Colony)

Eventually, the memorial wound its way through the Advanced Fleet, the Home Fleet, and the Colonial Fleet all during which there was no sign of Tails.

The memorial ended with Captian Kyle Horizon of the S.S. Excalibur II, who had not lost any of his crewmen, but did pay respects to the friends and classmates who he lost during the war. After which a Military Chaplain approached the podium, said a short prayer, and dismissed everyone.

"Begins to make you think, doesn't it" Chris said as they left the hall.

"Hmmm." Said Sonic absent mindedly.

The group walked in silence towards a small reception room. A custom at most funerals, and honored here.

At this point, the group split up slightly, Cream and Cheese went off to find her mother, Amy stuck close to Sonic, who had found a couple old friends from school, and Chris went off to get a drink.

As he poured himself a glass of punch, he began to wonder where Tails had gone off to. It had been quite a while, and he seemed mostly alright at the beginning of the night. "Maybe he's been hiding more than we realized" Chris thought to himself.

"Do you know what happened with Dr. Eggman?" A voice asked from behind Chris.

He turned around and was slightly surprised to be at eye level with a white wolf.

"Captian Horizon I presume?" Chris held out his hand which Kyle took.

"Mr. Thorndyke I presume?" Kyle replied.

They shook hands.

"So, do you know what happened with ?" Kyle repeated.

"Why do you ask?" Chris asked

"Because when I asked Admiral Nimitz, my superior, he only said that the matter was taken care of and we would be advised if it became relevant, and that any other information was classified."

"Well," said Chris, "… what makes you think that I know anything more?"

"You fought against him and with him during the war, I thought that you would be one of the key witnesses at the hearing, which I assume happened."

Chris could see that there would be no way to lie about this.

"You're new at this, aren't you?" Chris said.

"What makes you say that?"

"The Eagerness to take part in things that seem more important, I did the same thing in College as soon as I was promoted to Supervising Teacher's Assistant."

"Very perceptive of you." Said a slightly embarrassed Captian Horizon, "But still, Dr. Ivo Robotnik has been trying to take over us for years at this point, and we finally have him on trial for everything he's done, and now all that my superior has to say is 'you will be advised' and 'that information is classified.'"

Chris looked at Captian Horizon, and then discretely looked around, then said "You didn't hear this from me, but for his services to the Cosmic Defense Force and willingness to preserve life, Dr. Ivo Robotnik has been granted a 72 hour 'head start' and has been cleared of all criminal charge."

Captian Horizon looked at Chris with a mixture of shock and Exasperation.

"Before you say everything racing through your mind and make a scene," Chris said calmly "we wouldn't be sitting here without his help."

Captian Horizon raised his finger as though to make an objection, and then said calmly "Fair enough."

After a short silence, Captian Horizon asked "So, how is Captian Prower?"

Chris took a minute, looked around again, and said "Had you asked me before the memorial, I would have said 'a little melancholy but otherwise ok', but now I'm not so sure."

"Is it about the crew member that you lost?"

"Yes. It's been hard on all of us, but more so on Tails."

"Were they" Captian Horizon made a gesture to indicate togetherness, "an item when she died?"

"Tails would never say so, and you definitely didn't hear this from me, but yes."

"You seem to be willing to tell me things which you ought not to be, why?" Captian Horizon asked with concern.

"Some may call it snitching," Chris replied "but the thing is, Imma horrible liar and it would just cause more trouble than it's worth to lie to someone like you who seems adamant about information."

"Ok then." Captian Horizon said with an understanding nod.

"I'm still concerned though, it's been quite a while." Chris said

"I dunno," Said Captian Horizon, "Maybe he's more upset about your lost crew-member than you thought."

"Maybe." Chris replied.

At that moment, they both heard a voice over the crowd "Kyle!"

Both Chris and Captian Horizon looked over, and Chris did a double take when he Saw a green female fox beckoning in their direction.

"My first office, Sonar." Captian Horizon said, "I gotta go, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you to." Chris said slightly distractedly as Captian horizon joined Sonar and a couple others and left.

 _I know it's impossible, but it still makes one think: A green fox?_ Chris thought to himself, _not that that would be what would necessarily happen, but still I had better check at some point._

As he was thinking this, he accidentally bumped into sonic by the drink table.

"Chris," Sonic said, "Are you ok?"

"What?... oh, I'm fine." Chris said hastily "What makes you ask?"

"You walked right into me and the crowd isn't that thick around here."

"Sorry I was lost in thought. Anyway, have you seen Tails about?"

"No." Sonic replied, "It's been a while, and I'm beginning to worry."

"Me to, we should probably find him." Chris replied

"Amy said that she was going to look for him a little while ago."

"But there is the chance that he's gone some where she can't."

"True, but I don't think that would stop her, now would it."

"Of course, not, she is incredibly persistent, but don't you think that she might try to look for him in all the wrong places?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she may try to find him everywhere she would go, but not necessarily everywhere he would go."

"You know what, you're right we had better go find him." Sonic said as he threw his empty cup in the trash and headed towards the exit with Chris right behind.

Eventually, Tails regained enough sense to leave the restroom, jacket draped over his shoulder.

As he came around the corner, he ran into his Boss (Craig Miller second VP of Development).

"Mr. Miller!" Tails said.

"You ok son?" He asked.

"I… Suppose," Tails lied through his teeth, "but what are you doing here?"

"A close friend lost his daughter in the war." He said.

"My condolences." Said Tails.

"Thank you, but I think you're the one in need of condolences. Now tell me, are you really alright?"

Tails nodded slightly, blinking back tears.

"Don't lie to me son, you lost a ship-mate, right?"

Tails nodded slightly, tears gathering up in the corners of his eyes

"Was she close?"

Tails nodded a little more, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks.

"Come here" he said pulling Tails into a side hug.

They began to walk down the corridor.

"I know how you feel." Mr. Miller said. "My Niece was in the Marine corps, and was killed on a spec-opps mission near Suez."

Tails just thought to himself _Did you end her yourself? How else could you possibly know how I feel!_

Mr. Miller noticed the reaction, but continued "We were close, she always said that I was her inspiration and often came to me for advice and to share stories. When she died, I didn't know what to do. I could barely work."

Tails tried to hear, and understood what he was doing, but it was exactly what everyone on the Blue Typhoon tried to do and it never helped.

"You know what," Mr. Miller began "Given everything you've been through, you deserve a break."

Tails said nothing, trying to keep some kind of composure.

"Sabbatical: 4 months, effective immediately."

Tails said the only thing that came to mind: "Can you do the same for my friends?"

"I'll see what I can do." Mr. Miller said in reply.

They both rounded a corner.

"Tails!" Amy said and hugged him.

"We've been looking all over for you man!" Sonic added. "Where've you been?"

Tails started, then Mr. Miller cut him off and said "He's been walking and talking with me."

"Ok, thank you for finding him sir." Chris said.

Mr. Miller gave a small exasperated sigh, nodded, looked at his watch and said "Well, my wife is now waiting for me in the car, I must be going. I trust that Tails here is in good hands."

"Yes Sir." Chris replied.

"Don't call me Sir son, it gives me flashbacks." He said to Chris.

"Ok, Sorry." Said Chris.

"It's ok, Have a good night." He said and left towards a side exit.

The four of them began to make their way to the front exit of the building. It was now nearly 11 pm, and most others had already gone home. The only ones left at the reception were a few old sailors toasting and singing of their fallen shipmates.

At this point, Tails finally looked up and said "Where's Knuckles and Cream?"

"Cream went home with her mom a while ago, and Knuckles is pulling the car around." Amy answered.

"Oh." Tails said in a small voice.

They exited the building and approached a silver and carbon Charger idling at the curb.

As they got in the car, Knuckles turned around and said "Hey kid, where you been?" Before he could finish, both Chris and Sonic gave him a look that said _now is not a good time,_ at which point knuckles became quiet.

Tails got into the back-left window seat, and Chris into the passenger seat. Forcing Sonic and Amy to sit rather close. To which Sonic seemed to make no aversion.

As they pulled away knuckles asked "So, how about some music for the ride?" with a response of genera agreement from everyone in the car, except Tails who just continued to look out the window at the night sky.

"Any Suggestions?" Knuckles asked.

"Oldies." Said Sonic instantly.

"Sure." Said Chris.

"Alright then." Knuckles said pressing a couple buttons on the radio.

" _Coming up next on our all Liverpool evening: That perfectly ridiculous sci-fi synth act A Flock of Seagulls. Don't we all wish we could pull off a do like that."_

Tails was at once filled with happiness at the opening synth riff of _Space Age Love Song_ , one of his favorites from the band, and then sadness.

Tears began to visibly roll down his face again.

Amy noticed this in the reflection of a street light and motioned to Knuckles to turn it off. Which he did.

"Why did you stop it? I love that song." Tails said quietly. (to everyone's surprise)

"Ok then." Knuckles said as he turned it back on right at the chorus.

Tails felt an odd mix of happiness, contentment, sorrow, and guilt in various combinations.

He then physically turned himself away from Sonic and Amy and put his head against the window.

Everyone, except knuckles, looked at Tails with confusion and concern as the song continued.

It was a bit of a drive back to the valley from the memorial, and so the radio DJ went from A flock of Seagulls to _Karma Chameleon_ , to _Hungry like The Wolf,_ and so on. Any time someone tried to turn the radio off for Tails, he would look up and maybe ask "why?"

"Can we change the station?" Chris asked.

"Shure, why not." Knuckles replied.

Chris looked back to see if there were any objections. Sonic just nodded sleepily, Amy was asleep on Sonic's shoulder, and Tails was still looking out the window. The sleeve of his oxford now visibly tear-stained.

He then turned around and surfed through the stations.

Though both Chris and Tails knew the universe itself is an impartial and inanimate entity, it can sometimes seem to have a cruel sense of humor. As Chris surfed through the stations, he hit a rap song about love and loss, a country song about love and loss, a rock song about love and loss, and a pop song … about love and loss before settling on an alternative rock station playing The Ataris' _Takeoffs and landings._ He looked back specifically at Tails to see if this set him off, and oddly saw a slight smile of his face.

It was nearly one in the morning before they arrived home. Knuckles pulled up to Green Hill Lane and let everyone off, and said bye before continuing on.

As they made their way towards everyone's houses, Amy looked over and noticed that Tails was missing something.

"Tails" Amy said, "did you leave your jacket in Knuckles' car?"

Tails said nothing, and just continued to walk with his hands in his pockets.

As they walked, Amy tried to strike up conversation. "So, Chris, now that all the formalities are over, do you have any plans?"

"Now that you mention it yes, I was going to help Knuckles with the Master Emerald tomorrow. That reminds me, Tails could I get the command level access codes to Engineering?"

"Sure." Tails said, "The command override code is Prower – Alpha – one – Charlie – niner – Zulu."

Chris was surprised at this, it was supposed to be a code only known by the Captian for emergency situations, but made no objections.

Presently, they approached Amy's house. "Nightcap anyone?" She asked.

"Shure, why not." Chris said.

"Can't, I need sleep." Sonic said.

Tails just shook his head.

"It's just cream soda." Amy said, but tails just shook his head and started to walk away.

"Key's under the mat Chris." Sonic said and waved goodbye.

Sonic and Tails continued towards their houses in silence. Tails had not spoken to Sonic since the battle of the Singularity.

Eventually they approached Sonic's place, and he turned in with a "Good night Tails." To which Tails said nothing and carried on towards his own house.

Tails continued, still stewing in thoughts of grief and regret. Not regret at what he had to do, it was necessary of course, but regret at the natural outcome.

 _Could there have been another way?_ He continually asked himself.

Each footfall seemed to echo this. _Another. Way. Another. Way._ All the way back to his house.

He approached his own door, unlocked it, and entered the small ranch house.

Walking in, he placed his phone, keys, and wallet on the kitchen counter and approached a small potted plant on the window sill above the sink. It was about an inch tall, and had just began to bud. Tails felt the soil, which was a wee bit dry, and added a small measure of water to the pot.

He then walked down the hall to his bedroom.

Standing in front of his closet he un-did his tie, shed the formal attire, and got ready for bed.

He approached his bed from the normal side, but noticed the framed picture from the party Cosmo threw back on the Blue Typhoon and then went to the other side and sat down. Everything started to stew in his mind.

He lay down, scooted over to his normal side, turned off the light quickly, and turned away.

The moon shone brightly that night. He could see out the window and across the Green Hills. Eventually in the midst of his thoughts he fell asleep without even realizing it.


	2. Chapter 2: The Maddness Begins

" _Captian They're regrouping." An armored soldier shouted at Tails_

" _Reinforce the barricade and distribute the remaining ammunition. This may be our last hope gents." Tails ordered._

 _Mechanical marching could be heard through the door that they were defending. There were only a hand full of them left._

" _Positions Men." Tails commanded. "Boyd, Tell us when."_

 _The one soldier with a corner shot used it to look over the barricade. "Hold on… Hold on…"_

 _The mechanical marching got louder and louder. "Hold on…"_

" _Any day now Boyd!" the solider to Tails left shouted._

" _NOW!" Boyd shouted._

 _All five of them raised to a kneel and opened fire._

 _Tails fired the first shots and unloaded his blaster… Right into Cosmo._

" _NOOOOOOOOOOO..." Tails shouted as she fell backwards gracefully in slow motion._

" _COSMOOOOOOO_ OOOOOO" Tails shouted as he woke up. Tears covering his face.

It was another nightmare. They were always the same, yet never the same.

Tails sat up, and put his head in his hands. _Every night,_ he thought to himself, _why does this keep happening every night? Can't I save her, or just not MURDER her once? Is that too much to ask?_

"IS IT?!" he shouted aloud.

He sat for a minute, then checked his clock.

The time read 7:30. A bit too early, but he didn't want to go back to sleep. So, he got up and shambled into the kitchen.

The morning light shone brightly through the windows. He didn't feel particularly hungry at that hour, but felt it was the right thing to make breakfast.

So, he put the kettle on, and poured himself a bowl of Hunny-Os.

As he poured the milk over the cereal, he caught a glimpse of what looked like Knuckles and Chris carrying a gigantic crate towards the Ancient Ruins.

He wondered for a second then remembered _Oh the Master Emerald pieces. The pieces from when the…_

He slammed the half empty gallon of milk on the counter and utterly lost it again. Just then the kettle went off.

He looked up, and realized what happened. _Twice already,_ he thought to himself.

He got a mug out of the cupboard, placed a bag of green tea in it, poured the boiling water over it, and took his breakfast over to the couch.

He picked up a small remote, turned on the TV, selected COMP as input and opened his Email.

He pressed the microphone button on the remote and said "Recent Emails."

Instantly, all emails for that day appeared on the screen. He read through them as he ate his Hunny-Os and Tea.

There was one from work letting him know that he was officially on sabbatical, a few from partnered companies and colleges, some advertisements (all moved to spam), and one from email address teddyrobot that read _say goodbye while you can._ Any other time tails would have made a comedic quip about it to himself, but today he just moved it to spam without even really reading it.

He then closed the Email application and tried to decide what to do, but the memories and regrets flooded back in so all he did was just lie down on the couch and watch the smart TV go to screensaver.

 _Why does the Universe hate me?_ He though as the screen saver then randomly showed a bunch of images of flowers and buds in various stages of blooming. He viscously turned around on the couch and faced the back.

After a bit his thoughts began to stew again, the random though patterns eventually settled on the time that _he and Cosmo were trapped underground in the semi-abandoned Metarex base._

 _They had just discovered the chamber filled with artificial emeralds._

 _Tails noticed something in the corner. "What's that?" he said aloud._

" _What's What?" replied Cosmo._

" _That thing, over there." Tails said as he approached it. Cosmo stayed behind._

 _As he approached, he realized that it was just an energy conduit junction._

" _It's just a conduit junction, nothing to worry about Cosmo."_

 _No reply_

" _Cosmo?" he said again turning around._

 _The sight that greeted him was Shadow cornering her against one of the emerald growth chambers about to unleash a Chaos Spear at her._

" _TRATOR!" he shouted._

 _Tails knew what to do, he had seen this movie._

 _He began to turn around to grab the energy conduit, but he felt like he was moving in molasses._

 _Far later than he should have grabbed it, he pulled the conduit out, sparks flying from the end, and began to turn around when a bright flash illuminated the cavern._

 _He knew what had happened. He was too late._

He woke with a start. Sat up and looked around. _What's even the point?_ He thought to himself lying back on his back.

Lying down, he looked to his right and noticed that his tea had gone cold, and his cereal was still barely touched. He didn't feel hungry anymore.

 _I've got to do something_ he thought.

He got up, and took his unfinished breakfast back to the kitchen. The cereal he poured down the drain, the Tea he heated up in the microwave.

He then took his now hot tea and went into his office, and booted up the Kerbal Space Program. (I know, shameless plug.)

He started playing with no particular goals in mind.

He did a little of this, a little of that, and before he knew it, it was noon.

Noticing that his tea had run dry, he got up to take the cup to the sink.

As he put the empty mug in the sink and filled it with water, he noticed a silver glint rise above the trees and begin an unmistakable gravity turn. A rather sharp one at that.

 _That's not out of Lindberg? What's happening?_ He thought to himself.

The silver streak was now accelerating due southwest, horizontal to the ground.

As it got slightly closer, Tails noticed that it was a roughly spherical craft with a small engine module on the back and some unknown conic device on the front.

It sped past the closest point, and then raised to a slight climb and then a silver flash… and it was gone.

 _Weird,_ Tails thought to himself, _Bet the UFO conspiracy theorists will have a field day._

He went back to his desk, trying not to get on a train of thought that would conclude with Cosmo.

Later, as he was perusing one of his favorite tech forums, the phone rang.

Tails ran out to the kitchen and picked it up. "Hello, Tails speaking."

"Tails" Said Cream's voice over the land line, "Did you hear?"

"Hear what, I've been inside all day?" he said.

"Chris is gone!" She said, Tails could tell that she was either crying or about to cry.

"Hang on now, what do you mean gone?" Tails asked.

"Sonic just told me that Eggman launched him in a ship that took off and disappeared."

Tails just then realized that the craft that he saw earlier was Chris heading home.

"That explains it." Tails said, more to himself.

"Explains what." Said Cream.

"Why Eggman was basically buried in the Study all the way back home." He said. "He was trying to figure out a way to send Chris home, and it appears that he succeeded."

"But why?" Cream said, back on the verge of tears. "Chris didn't even say goodbye?"

"Now Cream, I'm sure he wanted to say goodbye, but maybe he didn't have enough time."

"What on earth do you mean by that Miles!?" Cream said loudly into the phone.

"I don't quite know, it most likely has to do with wibbly wobbly timey whimey things." He said.

"Wibbly wobbly… What!?" She said.

"Remember how he said that he lost about six years when he came via the Master Emerald?" Tails asked.

"Yes?" Cream replied.

"Obviously, something neither of us quite understood happened in transit, and thus something neither of us quite understand must happen during the transit back." He said knowledgably.

"Yes, but why did he have to go now?" Cream cried.

"I don't quite know, you would have to ask Dr. Eggman." He said.

"IF THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY, THEN GOODBYE MILES PROWER." Cream screamed and hung up the phone quite violently.

Tails heard dial tone, then hung up the phone. "Sheesh." He said, "At least he's still alive."

As soon as he said this, he suddenly became depressed again.

 _I can't keep going on like this_ he thought to himself blinking back tears. _I've got to do something._

And with that he marched back to his office, Sat down, and began to vigorously research cloning techniques.

Sonic stood on a ridge overlooking the ocean. It was midafternoon and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He had just gotten back from telling everyone that Chris had gone home. Well everyone except Tails who wouldn't answer the door.

He stood on the ridge glancing at his wrist watch. He usually never wore a wrist watch, but today he made an exception. Eggman's 'Head Start' would be over in just a few minutes, and Sonic didn't want to waste a second.

17:55…56…57…58…59…18:00 Sonic raced towards where Chris' ship launched, ran past the now empty spot and headed up the road towards the forest. He followed the path towards Eggman's old secret laboratory near the Mystic Ruins.

Sonic found the secret entrance on the far side of the ziggurat, and pried it open. As he did so lights all down the corridor light up in sequence. _No Security? That's not like you Eggman?_ Sonic though as he raced down the long corridor into the secret lab.

He entered the lab, and looked around. It was strange, all the lights were on, but none of the technical equipment was left. He ran upstairs to find the glass cylinders containing Silver Sonic, Mecha Sonic, and Metal Sonic still there untouched and unmoved. He walked past them remembering how he had to fight each one off in turn, and then all at once. And how Metal Sonic once kidnapped Amy and held her for hostage. As Sonic approached Metal Sonic's cylinder, He punched the glass so hard that it shattered, but didn't break.

He eventually made it to the door into the inner workshop. Beside the door, there was a panel with six buttons arranged in a V pattern and no numbers on the button. _Ok, what was it Tails told me_ Sonic thought to himself _Oh, yeah: Punch in the initial light pattern completely ignoring all lights till complete, then punch in the next sequence following the same procedure till all lights are on._ Which Sonic did and the door eventually opened.

As they opened, Sonic saw a large silhouette of what could be described as Teddy-Roosevelt in pajamas.

The Silhouette slowly raised its hands and turned around. "I Surrender Sonic." Said Eggman.

"Well." Said Sonic not expecting it to be this easy, "You are under arrest"

"Ohhh, I surrender Sonic," Said Eggman cutting off Sonic, "But you have to catch me first. Mua ha ha AHHH HA HA HA."

"Ok, but where are you Eggman?" Sonic asked.

"I think you have more to worry about than that." Said Eggman, then the image flickered and faded.

 _A hologram?!_ Sonic thought.

Just then he heard the whir of a turbine behind him and felt odd, as though he was standing right behind himself.

"We meet again." Said a cold, deep, metallic voice behind him.

Sonic turned around. "Metal!"

"Nothing personal this time, you just have to die." Metal Sonic said matter of fact-ly, and zoomed straight towards Sonic.

Sonic dodged, but just barely. Metal turned around and just in time to see Sonic dash back into the main laboratory.

Metal zoomed into the main lab. "I know where you are, My sensors can detect everything in here." Said metal as he zoomed into the main lab, and looked around.

Momentarily he sensed something right before he suddenly all orientation was lost.

"Unfortunately for you, you're too slow!" said Sonic standing victorious over a knocked out Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic regained his bearings, and tripped Sonic.

Sonic fell, and Metal was upon him. Without a word, he threw a punch right at Sonic's Face.

Sonic dodged, and then kicked Metal Off him and into the opposite wall.

Metal Crashed, then jetted forward to strike again.

Sonic deflected, and Counterpunched only to have Metal dodge back.

As they dueled hand to hand, Metal said "I know everything you're going to do." As he threw a punch…

Which Sonic caught.

"But It's not going to help you, because I KNOW EVERYTHING YOU'RE GOING TO DO!" Sonics said as he combination punched and kicked Metal so hard that he flew up and back smashing into Silver Sonic's tube destroying it.

Sonic jumped up to face the cyborg now covered in shattered glass and stasis fluid. "Strange, Isn't it." He Said.

At this moment, Silver Sonic, who was slumped over Metal Sonic, activated and all he saw was something blue in the vague shape of Sonic lying in front of him.

Silver Sonic said something in machine language, and then began to mercilessly wail on Metal Sonic.

"Oh my!" Said Sonic at the sight, and then he got out of there before Silver Sonic quite finished.

Sonic, looking back at the long tunnel entrance to the lab, found himself oddly disturbed at the sight of a silver effigy of himself disemboweling another effigy of himself.

 _Now, I've seen everything._ Sonic thought to himself before running back to the Green Hills.

Returning home, he walked in and thought to himself _I need a drink._

He walked over to his fridge, and pulled out a Power-Aid, flipped it to his other hand, and proceeded over to the counter.

As he did so, he noticed a new voicemail, which he decided to listen to.

A computer voice chimed in "You have … One… New message: … New Message *beep* Hi Sonic, It's Amy. I was just calling you to tell you that I just got a lot of time off work."

Sonic, about to open the power-aid suddenly decided _I'm going to need something stronger._

And so, he returned to the fridge intending to get a can of root beer.

The Message continued "Isn't this great, we can spend more time together!"

 _Much stronger_ , Sonic thought to himself as he opened the fridge again, put the power-aid back and began to reach for a bottle of Ginger beer. (ginger-ale but sharper.)

"Just think of all the things we could do together."

 _Muuuuch stronger,_ Sonic thought to himself, and ended up grabbing a bottle of Cider.

At this point he didn't really hear any more of Amy's message, just something about dates and things happening that he generally didn't have any interest in.

As he was drinking the cider, Amy was suddenly cut off "Message Box Full." Said the computer voice.

"Why am I not surprised." Sonic said to himself as he deleted the message.

He finished the bottle, and it just dawned on him. _We've been through hell and back together, we've been stuck on a ship together for months, why am I still trying to avoid her, and why can't I say Yes to her?_ He thought to himself.

His thoughts began to stir to the point that everything in front of him began to go into soft focus, though that may have just been the cider.

He was so wrapped up in a myriad of thoughts that he jumped at a knock at the door.

 _Please don't be Amy. Snap out of it: This is not you._ He thought to himself as he approached the door.

He opened the door.

"Hey… Sonic?" said Knuckles as Sonic opened the door more gingerly than usual.

"Oh, Hi Knuckles." Said Sonic.

Knuckles paused for a second, assessed the situation, and then said "Ok Sonic, what's going on?"

"You'd better come in." Said Sonic opening the door wider.

As Knuckles entered, Sonic walked over to the window near his couch and opened it.

"What's that for?" Asked Knuckles.

"Fresh air," Said Sonic "Wanna power-aid?"

"Sure." Said Knuckles.

Sonic walked over to the fridge, and tossed Knuckles a power aid.

"I prefer red." Said Knuckles looking at the blue power aid that Sonic tossed him.

"I'm out of red." Said sonic returning to the counter with a power aid of his own.

"So, What's new with you?" Sonic asked.

"Well, just got the Master Emerald back together after three hours of chanting." Knuckles said "Turns out it really doesn't like being drained like that. Also, Rouge has been snooping around there, but has disappeared every time I think I get close. And I heard some weird sounds coming from the ruins. Was that you?"

"Yep, it was." Sonic said casually.

"Who were you fighting, Eggman." Knuckles asked

"Don't be silly, it wasn't Eggman it was Metal Sonic." Sonic said casually

Knuckles just about spat out his drink. "I though you already defeated him, nearly died doing so!" Knuckles said.

"Well, Eggman has always been into recycling, Though I got lucky this time." Sonic Said. "I kicked him into Silver Sonic's tube, which activated Silver Sonic, and… Well let's just say that we won't have to worry about Metal Sonic anymore."

"So, did the two robots fight?" Asked Knuckles.

"More like Silver Sonic decided to make chili out of Metal Sonic."

Knuckles gave a shudder. "Uugh, that bad. Was that why you were acting weird when you answered the door?"

"No." Said Sonic looking out each window in turn. "I was acting weird because of a voice mail from Amy."

"Really, Can I hear it?" Asked Knuckles.

"I already deleted it, it took up the entire message box and I'm worried that she tried to call other times and I'm missing something." Sonic said.

"Well it's Amy so you never know." Said knuckles.

"And the worst of it is, I have absolutely no idea what to do about it." Sonic said.

"Have you talked to Tails yet?" asked Knuckles.

"He's not talking to me, apparently." Said Sonic.

"Sounds like you just need to clear your mind, take a load off, and stop focusing on impossible tasks and things that can never be understood." Said Knuckles.

"That's …" Sonic said "An excellent idea Knuckles." Sonic said.

"Just ease off and calm down." Knuckles said. Just then the doorbell rang.

"I got it." Said Knuckles.

Knuckles got up to answer the door, and Sonic got up to get his MP3 player.

Knuckle looked though the peep hole. "It's Amy!" he said quietly.

 _CRAP!_ Sonic thought to himself as he froze right behind Knuckles.

Knuckles opened the door partially.

"Hi Amy." He said cheerfully as he opened the door.

"Hi Knuckles, is Sonic home?" Amy asked.

"Um, you know what," Knuckles said while Sonic took a running start and dove out the window he opened earlier (on the way grabbing his MP3 player), "He just left." Knuckles finished.

"Bull crap, let me in" said Amy as she marched in pushing Knuckles aside.

She tore through Sonic's house looking for him and didn't find a trace.

"WHERE IS HE!" She Shouted at Knuckles.

"I already told you, He Just Left." Knuckles said.

"Really," Amy said getting an evil smile on her face.

She pulled out her hammer.

"Where do you keep that thing?" Asked Knuckles in a worried tone.

"If he 'just left' as you say, when did he leave and where did he leave from? Because I sure didn't see him leave the house." She said pointing her hammer at Knuckles.

Knuckles in a worried fit said "45 Seconds ago, out that window." He pointed to the open window.

She looked at the window, then back at Knuckles, put away her hammer, said "Thanks" and dove out the window after Sonic.

Sonic paused on a ridge, and looked back to see a pink dot heading towards him. _Here we go again,_ he thought to himself and continued on.

The next few days passed with little incident. Sonic searched for Eggman daily, Knuckles returned to guard the Master Emerald, and Tails continued his research until he came to an impasse in his research.

It was nearly three in the morning, Tails had just read the hundredth article about the nature of cloning and how the cloned individual is still re-stating that the clone of the subject is still a distinct individual different from the cloned subject.

Tails just then put his head down on his computer desk and promptly fell asleep.

 _He found himself back in his dorm at the University of Lafayette, trying to get math homework done. But every time he looked at the equations, the numbers seemed to change and he could barely get anything done._

 _He decided to get up and walk around, maybe a fresh start will help._

 _He walked to the door, opened it, and found himself on a double decker commuter car, the two stair cases lay before him, one up and one down._

 _Tails headed up because he like the upper deck better._

 _The upper deck was empty, so he sat somewhere near the middle next to the window, facing forwards of course._

 _Looking out the window, he noticed that the passing towns bore a striking resemblance to the North East. He then concluded that he must be on a Mass-Link commuter train._

 _Presently they approached a station, and Tails saw Cosmo on the platform. He hoped that this was her train._

 _She then boarded the train onto Tails' car with a small cue of other passengers._

 _It seemed about half came up to the top level, including Cosmo. Tails hoped that she would sit near him, but unfortunately, she sat near the front of the coach facing rear._

 _A couple in their early 20s came up next, along with a small motley mix of other passengers, and sat in the row behind Tails._

 _Tails found himself a little nervous to walk go and sit next to Cosmo. He tried to psyche himself up to go and talk to her as he overheard the girl who sat behind him say something about her seven deadly ex-s._

 _Presently, Cosmo got up and walked down the stairs towards the front of the carriage._

 _Tails got up and followed her quickly._

 _He descended the stairs just in time to see her go through the door to the next coach._

 _Tails rushed through the door and was suddenly on the runway of the Blue Typhoon with Sonic and Shadow fighting something that looked reminiscent of the Bio-Lizard at the end of the runway._

 _Cosmo then turned to Tails, handed him a heavy hand blaster, and said "You know what to do."_

" _Wait!" said Tails as Cosmo began to walk rather quickly towards the bio-esque lizard._

 _Cosmo was eventually next to the lizard, which suddenly froze, and Tails heard Cosmo's voice mystically amplified. "Now Tails, you don't have much time."_

 _Tails looked at the blaster, he knew what he had to do, but he felt that he couldn't._

 _He momentarily placed the blasted to the side of his head, tried to pull the finger but found he couldn't._

 _Sonic then ran up and said "Tails now!"_

 _Tails the forced the gun from his head and pointed it towards the Lizard and Cosmo._

" _Tails, Do it!" Shadow said._

 _Tails then fired the powerful blaster and said "I Love You!"_

Tails then woke up and saw that his computer had shut itself off over night.

He also heard his alarm going off in the other room.

Tails knocked his head against the computer desk and said "AGAIN, WHY BLOODY AGAIN!"

The alarm continued to go off, and as it did his frustration and anger grew.

He then got up, marched into his room, and threw the alarm clock against the wall and shouted,

"SHUT UP!"

The small clock broke as it hit the wall.


	3. Chapter 3: Ex Machina, Ex Caelo

Nothing.

Days of Cloning research, most advanced theories and reports: Nothing.

Tails had spent the better part of the day on his couch with his laptop trying to look up scientific means of resurrecting the dead, and found Nothing helpful.

Most of the time, he only got historical references, religious texts, and methods that would get him arrested for something.

 _Alchemy?_ He thought to himself in sorrowful desperation, _No, that's focused on purification, not resurrection._

He closed his laptop and threw it aside on the couch.

A deep depression began to set in.

He got up, and then walked over to his potted plant, felt the soil and added a measure of water as well as some nutrients.

"I wish you were still here." He said to the blossoming flower, "All told, a small price for the lives of the galaxy, one life, and one soul." He finished, both to himself and to the flower.

He started to walk away, then just said "BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO HARD!?"

He walked back to the couch, head held low.

As he lay down, a deep depression set in at the realization that he would never see Cosmo again.

It could have only been a minute, or hours. Tails didn't know or care.

The phone rang.

Tails didn't pick it up till the 5th ring.

"Hello." He said melancholy.

"Greetings Fox-boy." Eggman's voice crackled through the receiver.

"What do you want?" Tails asked.

"Just wanted to speak to my favorite murderer." Eggman said.

"I don't need this from you," Tails said, "You know just as well as I…"

Eggman cut him off, "Oh sure, Yes I did play accessory to your little hero moment, but you still pressed the little trigger and Bye Bye Cosmo."

"She told me to pull the trigger." Tails said beginning to shake.

"Did She?" Eggman taunted.

"Don't gaslight me Eggman," Tails said, "I'm confident in my memories."

"Then your memories will tell you that you are directly responsible for her death." Eggman jeered.

"Shut up." Tails said clenching his fist.

"Didn't you have a thing for her?" Eggman asked mockingly.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Tails said defensively.

"Ooohhh, I think I do fox-boy," Eggman began scathingly, "You had a crush on her, but she friend-zoned you, and you couldn't handle that so you killed her."

"Now Listen Here You Egotistical, Ignorant, Farce! I LOVED HER, IT DESTROYED ME TO DO WHAT I DID AND YOU ARE NOT MAKING THINGS ANY BETTER!"

"Tell that to yourself all you like, little Kitsune, but deep down you know that the real…"

Tails hung up before Eggman could finish.

Filled with an unbridled rage, he picked up the whole unit, unplugged it, and Smashed it on the ground in anger shouting, "WHY… CAN'T…YOU… JUST…SCREW…OFF…EGGMAN!"

Tails threw away the broken scraps of plastic away and swept up the rest of the mess. He then returned and slumped on the couch.

Not a minute later, he cellphone rang.

 _Not again,_ he thought to himself as he got up and answered it.

He didn't even look at the caller ID, he just opened the phone and screamed, "LEAVE ME ALONE EGGHEAD!"

"What The HELL Did You Just Call Me!?" Amy answered.

"Amy!" Tails said in surprise, "That wasn't meant for you." He quickly backpedaled.

"Either way," Amy said threatening, "Do you think I'm an Egghead?"

Tails froze for a moment, "Nerrrr." He said.

Tails could feel the anger swelling on the other side of the line.

"I'm sorry," he said beginning to break down, "Eggman just called and basically accused me of Murdering Cosmo because I subliminally wanted to." He finished, now crying into the receiver.

"Okay…" Amy said, "Sorry to bother you at a time like this, but have you seen Sonic?"

"No, I haven't seen him for a while." Tails said bawling into the receiver.

"Call me if you see him." Amy said awkwardly.

"Okay." Tails barely said into his phone.

"Hope you feel better soon, Bye." Amy said and hung up.

Tails hung up the phone, then collapsed on the couch sobbing.

Sometime later, there was a knock at the door.

Tails looked up. The light out the window had become orange with the sunset.

"At least I didn't dream this time." He said to himself.

The knocking continued.

"Coming," He said as he got up and wiped his eyes.

Tails opened the door, and Knuckles greeted him.

"Hey kid, Thirsty?" Knuckles said holding up a 6-pack of bottles.

"Hey Knuckles, that had better be cider." Tails said.

"It is." Knuckles said, holding up a bottle, "Could I come in?"

Tails looked over his shoulder and noted the semi-disorderly state of his house.

"Could we sit on the porch?" Tails asked.

"Sure, I guess." Knuckles said.

Tails indicated towards the chairs on the porch, and Knuckles took a seat. He then closed the door, and took the seat opposite knuckles.

"Here." Knuckles said, handing Tails a bottle, "You look like you could use one."

"Thanks." Tails said. He opened the bottle, took a sip, and just kinda looked at it.

"Still hung up over her?" Knuckles asked, opening his own bottle.

"That's putting it lightly." Tails said taking a huge swig of cider.

"Take it easy, buddy." Knuckles said.

"How can I?" Tails asked, "She was the world to me, and I… had… to…"

Tails began to break down again, and took another huge gulp of cider.

"Sorry." Tails said, trying to compose himself, "Did I leave my jacket in your car?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"You did," Knuckles said, "And I put it in Captain's quarters that next morning when Chris and I went to get the master emerald pieces."

"Thanks." Tails said, looking at the sunset.

"I hope he made it back alright." Tails said.

"Chris?" Knuckles said, "I'm sure he did, Eggman may be a bit sadistic, but he's not that cruel."

Tails felt a little bit better and took another drink.

"I wish I could've gotten my hands on the ship Eggman used to send him home." Tails said, "It would have been revolutionary."

"Yeah, well, It's Eggman." Knuckles said, "He'll probably use your inventions as coasters and pencil-holders."

Tails leered at him.

"You know what I mean," Knuckles said, "He's a Kook, and totally insane."

"True." Tails said, looking back at the sunset, "Did you see what his quarters were like before they were cleared out?" he asked.

"No" Knuckles said, "I didn't."

"Let's just say that it would be like if Fyódor Pávlovich was into Cyberpunk." Tails said, making an obscure literary allusion.

"Huh?" Knuckles said.

"Sufficed to say, the inventions found may be revolutionary or may be over-engineered junk, if we can ever figure them out." Tails said.

"Complex?" Knuckles said.

"More like a rubix-cube of rubix-cubes." Tails said, "The way that man's mind works is beyond any of us."

"Certainly explains a lot." Knuckles said.

"Yeah." Tails said, and took another drink.

The sun was now close to the horizon, and turning a deeper and deeper orange.

"I remember." Tails said, reminiscing, "It was a sunset like this when I realized that she was the one for me."

"On that fortune-teller planet?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes." Tails said, "We fell into that trap Amy had set for Sonic, and ended up together into that reflecting pool."

"Was it due to whatever magic they said was in that pool?" Knuckles asked.

"The only magic was in her eyes, and in our embrace as we knew then and there that we were made for each other." Tails said, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks.

"She said goodbye, you know." Knuckles said.

"I don't even remember if that really happened." Tails said, putting is head in his hands.

"I mean after we got back." Knuckles said. "She somehow told Sonic to tell us all that she would miss us, You especially."

Tails looked at Knuckles, eyes still wet, and asked "How?"

"I don't know." Said Knuckles, "I'm no scientist or philosopher."

"But why did she…" Tails started, and then dove into deep thought.

"Are you okay?" Knuckles asked.

Tails then thought back, and realized that her apparition on the bridge right after the battle was not a figment of his imagination, but was indeed her, or at least some projection of her.

"She didn't die." Tails said, coming to a minor epiphany, "At least, not in the normal sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Knuckles asked.

"It means I may see her again." Tails said. He then finished his bottle and stood up. "Thanks Knuckles." He said.

"Anytime." Knuckles said, not quite knowing what he did.

Just then, Sonic came running up and said. "Hey buddy, nice to see you out. How've you been?"

Tails just looked at him for a second, frowned, and headed back inside closing the door harder than usual.

"What's up with him?" Sonic asked Knuckles, more than a little worried.

"Still hung up over her." Knuckles said.

"It's been a month and a half already," Sonic said.

"Yeah, well…" Knuckles said, picking up the half drunken six-pack, and descending the porch steps.

Just then they both heard a rather pink voice call out "SONIC!" in the distance.

"How did she…Oh." Sonic said looking at Tails' house, "Gotta run." He said to Knuckles, and then took off.

"See ya." Knuckles said as he ran off.

Amy presently approached Knuckles and asked, "Which way did he go?"

"Off a cliff." Knuckles said sarcastically.

Amy shoved him out of the way and continued after Sonic.

"It's no use." Knuckles said to himself as they disappeared down the path.

Tails placed his phone down, and then returned to his compute room, and shot off a couple emails requesting the most recent pier reviewed research regarding matter-energy conversion, and requesting the use of two Chaos emeralds.

After which he got up, and headed down to his workshop in the basement. Any other time he would have started a couple trains on his layout before working, but this time he went straight into cataloging and inventorying what supplies he had on hand.

Once he realized he had all that he needed, he made his way back upstairs.

As soon as he got to the top step, he suddenly felt light-headed and off balance.

"Must be the Cider." He said, steadying himself.

To mitigate whatever effects he was feeling, he walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a protein bar.

As he unwrapped it, he looked over to the potted plant, and said "I've found a way back for you."

He then chomped the bar like a cigar, picked up his phone, and headed back to his computer room.

Watching his computer like a hawk, he only nibbled at the bar, far more interested in the potential e-mail notification.

As he stared at the left LED monitor in night mode, anxious thoughts began to stir regarding the possibility of his requests being denied. The scenarios accompanying the thoughts began reasonable, but soon spiraled into first, the university and Martin being on to what he was doing and calling it a waste of resources, to them acting like moral authoritarians: stating such things as "We do not deem it proper to bring her back, you must live out your lot of misery," and "You seriously think we care about your petty little guilt party, go and take your crack-pot scheme somewhere else."

Tails was so wrapped up in anxious thought, that he didn't realize that he had received several new e-mails on the screen right in front of him.

"Gahh!" he said as his phone buzzed with a notification.

He looked down, and just saw that it was just a notification for some app permissions. He ignored it, and then remembered that he'd probably wouldn't receive a response till morning.

In light of this, he decided to turn in.

The next morning, he arose at dawn, grabbed a few key books, and immediately proceeded down to his basement workshop. He opened the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics to the pages regarding mass-energy conversion rates, and opened other key references to the proper pages.

He then pulled out all the spare parts he had for the X-Tornado's engines, power systems, and The Blue Typhoons main reactor.

Periodically consulting his reference materials, he began to piece together a machine that some say violates all natural laws, not laws of science, they are retained, but the laws of natural propriety.

He was constructing a machine the likes of which had never been seen before, and it began to consume him.

He was devoting every waking moment to building, testing, fixing, and tuning it as he went.

He never even left the house, he only even popped upstairs to grab something edible, and continue his ritual of watering his plant that he cherished.

Days had passed without his realizing. He never answered the door, never pricked up the phone, never made any contact with the world outside of his construction of what he believed with all his might would bring back Cosmo.

As he was working on the sensitive PCBs in the machine's control console (necessary busy work as he mauled over a conundrum), he reached for the soldering iron and carelessly grabbed the metal part.

"AaaaAAAAaaaAAAaaaaAA." He shouted, and threw it across the room.

In a huff, he headed upstairs to run his hand under cold water, cursing himself as he did so.

"Are you sure you're going about this the right way?" Sonic's voice asked in his head.

"She completed her destiny." Amy's voice added.

"MINE IS TORN WITHOUT HER." Tails shouted, to no one.

He then noticed something shaped like a box sitting on his front porch.

He briefly emerged, it was the dead of night, three days since he sat on the porch talking with Knuckles.

He grabbed the box and returned to his workshop, forgetting about his hand. It was the chaos emerlads he had sent for.

They had sent him the Yellow and the Green Emeralds.

He held them in front of him, tears streaming down his face. He made them lightly touch, thinking of his brief time with Cosmo, and how abruptly it ended…at his hand.

Placing the emeralds on his workbench, he picked up the soldering iron, and threw himself back into assembling it.

"This has to work." He repeated to himself in a somber litany.

He had finished with the control consoles, and had moved on to assembling the heat removal system, he was bracing the connections with an acetylene torch and began to feel hungry.

He deactivated the torch, raised his goggles, and headed back upstairs.

Opening the fridge, he didn't find much. He had already eaten most things.

He grabbed an old but still good steak out of the back of the meat drawer, and carried it back with him.

Not wanting to waste time, he lit his torch again, and held the steak against it to 'cook' it.

He then scarfed it down blue-rare, and continued to work…tirelessly.

He continued working for days, with less and less sleep. Sometimes with only the occasional nap every six hours or so. He didn't stop. He couldn't stop. All he could do was just carry on, solving problems as they came along, and progressing, hoping that at the end of it, he would see her again.

His work came at the expense of all else. He had been working for 6 days straight without any kind of meaningful break. Not to sleep, not to clean himself, not to eat, and not to think. He had to get it done, He just knew it. He couldn't let himself fail. He had to see Cosmo again or he would loose it all. She was everything to him, and he couldn't go on without her.


End file.
